As I sit here watching the first episode of Enterprise. I'm contemplating the future of the Star Trek franchise. Looking past Discovery I wonder what will be next. If there will even be a next.

The recent Trek movies were dog gone awful. Discovery isn't filling me with any confidence. If it fails I wonder if that will be all she wrote for the franchise. I hope that's not the case.

Let's assume that regardless of what happens Star Trek will continue on.

What form do you think it should take? Do you want to see it continue on with feature films? Or would you prefer that it goes back to tv?

When the new films were announced I was glad to see it back on the big screen. But I think it's time to give that a rest and go back to television.Where in my opinion it works best.

What do you all think should happen next? Should further series continue to tell the tales of the Starship Enterprise and her crew? Which ever generation that would be. Or should it leave the Enterprise alone and deal with another Starship or space station?

Would anyone be interested in watching a series set in the Mirror Universe? Or perhaps a show were the Klingons or some other race were the main focus of the series.

Well anyway that's what was on my mind. I'd like to know what my fellow trekkies think on the matter.

This is a question I have been thinking about myself but still have not been able to come up with a clear answer.

One of the major problems I have with Star Trek on television or in the movie theater is that the people who have producing it for the last fifteen years have pretty much lost the spirit of Star Trek. I am not talking about the whole utopian post-capitalism dream and such (though there have been so many attempts to deconstruct it because apparently a society om which most of humanity can live rich worthwhile lives, pursuing their own goals and definitions of happiness must have a dark undertone, right?), but the spirit of adventure and excitement.

I know a show like the original Star Trek series would not really sell any more these days with all the science fiction shows and other high quality shows that are being shown or have been around in the recent past, but rather than trying to expand on the original idea/mindset to make it a show of today producers instead look at other television shows and movies and try to make Star Trek like that.

It needs to have more personal drama (read, conflict between people over petty issues or relationships or dark secrets of the past), there needs to be more sexiness (we must see what the characters and crew members do in their own quarters), there needs to be more realistic violence, the future must be like today but with more advanced technology

But regarding one of your questions, yes I believe Star Trek belongs on television and not on the movie screen.Seeing the old cast return in the movies after the cancellation of the original series was nice though I am sure fans would have preferred more seasons and perhaps television specials.

But TNG got barely anything out of it other than Star Trek First Contact and "All good things" is probably still a better send off to them than the movies ever were.

To be honest, I am not sure if the television producers of today can really revive Star Trek any more. I am not going to say that it is dated but I am going to say that it was something from a generation that was more optimistic than the one way have today who thinks that the idea of a pleasant future is not one worth thinking about. (on a Star Trek forum where someone asked if people wanted to live in the Star Trek future several posters explained why they preferred reality over that, one of the reasons that apparently a world in which the pursuit of money no longer drives society and all basic necessities for living are freely available for all will apparently lull humanity into a state of perpetual apathy)

How can these people imagine a positive future in which go out in space for adventure and the quest for answers instead of colonization and exploitation?

A show set in the Mirror Universe. I think the Mirror Universe should have been a "What if?" one time scenario and not something to constantly bring back.It would probably be the show current day television producers would want to make as in their mind it would contain all the elements I just mentioned but it would not be Star Trek any more.Might as well call it Conquest Space.I would not watch it.

A show about the Klingons or another species. This would only appeal to an already existing Star Trek audience that is deep into the lore and only to a sub section of them that is really into the species that is being focused on it.And I think it would probably be also be a show in which species like the Klingons become more and more stereotypical and there is more play on the tropes of Star Trek.I don't think we would for example see anything like "The Final Reflection"

Another show about the Enterprise and her crew. I guess that would be the most obvious one but how many times can you repeat that setup or formula before it becomes tiresome?

A couple of my contacts have suggested that instead of focusing on one ship/station/starbase/Starfleet department and her crew/personnel, that there should perhaps be a Star Trek anthology show.I don't know if that would work.

Right now I think Star Trek for the moment should live on in comics (I would like to say books but I can't stand Pocket Books Star Trek any more) and video games, though a web based animation series might be interesting too.

I've some ideas about what should be used. This is for a standard Star Trek weekly series, with the very rare two parter.

ITEM: The cast must be interesting. Their interactions must be interesting. Any conflicts should be minor at most, a la McCoy and Spock. They should be a team, not just a collection of individuals. I need chemistry.

ITEM: There MUST be a ship as the main setting. I personally have a fondness for the Enterprise, but the Voyager and the Defiant seemed perfectly suitable. But "Star Trek" implies travel. Note that there is no current equivalent of this in any environment, except maybe under seas - I'm not an expert. But we don't have anyone boldly going where no man has gone before right now. I rather miss that.

ITEM: For the most part, the cast must support the stories, and not vice versa. Yes, we have to be interested in the cast, and learn about them - but I don't want a weekly soap opera of "Hey, let's learn a secret about this character this episode!" I want this to be about the adventures that occur on the voyage, not constantly about the characters.

ITEM: No supermen, please. I know that both Spock and Data are beloved characters, and the "alien" characters are always interesting... but it gets tired when the ship is saved every other episode by someone with powers and abilities far beyond... oh, you get what I mean.

That does NOT mean that I object to super human achievements by the crew... but not the same crewman every week.

ITEM: While I objected a little bit to the overall concept, the U.S.S. Weekly has to be part of a larger group. Starfleet wasn't mainly military, but they did have military purposes. Again, I don't want it every week... but it's part of the framework, I feel. And on the same token, exploration and discovery should be a very big part of the mission.

ITEM: Let the stories range from the microcosmic to the macrocosmic. From Khan to Apollo. And even some stories that aren't about adversaries as much as situations. Drama is moved by conflict, but it needn't be conflict between individuals or "humans" all the time.

ITEM: On a similar theme, I don't mind an opposing race/force/what will you... but again, I don't want the Borg every other week.

ITEM: The Evil Overlord rule has to apply. A ten year old has to read each script, and if he says "that's ridiculous!", then it's out. Unless you LIKE the idea of Spock's brainectormy or fighting a phantom planet with ghosts of gunfighters, or teeny-boppers... oh, hell, you know what I mean. :)

I hope cross linking is allowed here (I am not really doing that, just quoting someone else's posts) but I saw an interesting comment of someone in the comment section to a Star Trek Discovery article.

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I always though Paramount missed an opportunity with Trek to not make it like Doctor Who and just change out the crew and keep the same ship.

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I have to say that it is something I am going to think about for a while even though I did like the other setting portrayed in Star Trek Deep Space Nine and Star Trek Voyager.

As someone in the same thread points out, if it would always be set on the same ship it would make the universe feel rather small, but still...

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